North Carolina-based Blackwater USA, for example, has 150 security personnel in the Gulf Coast region. The company, which provided personal security for the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority and continues to have a large presence in Iraq, began by donating the services of a helicopter crew to help the Coast Guard with rescue efforts. But it since has added commercial clients that either have buildings in the region, such as hotels, or are sending employees there to help with the reconstruction.
"The calls came flooding in. It's not something that we went down and tried to develop," said Chris Taylor, Blackwater's vice president for strategic initiatives.
It certainly appears that the privatization of emergency management is more than rhetoric. And just as the school voucher program discussion needs to happen in a larger context (what happens to public schools when wealthier families opt out?), so does disaster and emergency management.
While the private firms figure out where a buck can be made, the federal government, through Health and Human Services' Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response (ASPR) is promoting a much-needed National Health Security Strategy, mandated by the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act (2006) PL109-417:
SEC. 2802. NATIONAL HEALTH SECURITY STRATEGY.
(a) In General-
--(1) PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE REGARDING PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES- Beginning in 2009 and every four years thereafter, the Secretary shall prepare and submit to the relevant committees of Congress a coordinated strategy (to be known as the National Health Security Strategy) and any revisions thereof, and an accompanying implementation plan for public health emergency preparedness and response. Such National Health Security Strategy shall identify the process for achieving the preparedness goals described in subsection (b) and shall be consistent with the National Preparedness Goal, the National Incident Management System, and the National Response Plan developed pursuant to section 502(6) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, or any successor plan.
The idea of a serious look at our nation's emergency medical response is certainly welcomed by the policy makers and watchdog groups. However, the devil is always in the details; so far, it certainly appears that a truly national (i.e. federal, state, local and individual) response is what's planned for.
And this initiative, mandated by Congress, will go beyond this Administration's tenure, so the likelihood of it simply being an auction of public assets to private bidders is lessened. There is still an appetite for socialized disaster response, thank goodness, which gets to the understanding of what the Federal Government is there for (and in a Democratic Administration, Blackwater won't be replacing the socialized armed forces – the Pentagon – as the source of strategic planning and operations).
Just as public and private planning can be synergistic in a non-dysfunctional way (school nurses and superintendents often assist and plan with private schools at the community level), personal and family planning can complement local, state and federal efforts for disaster preparedness. One great example is a grassroots group of parents who formed a "how to prepare for family disaster" initiative, created displays on "how to" and took it to the American Public Health Association's expo (13,000 attendees) to demonstrate how families could prepare for disasters.
Everyone can afford to do this; it doesn't take a contract with Blackwater or AIG to participate, and it doesn't preclude local and state initiatives. In fact, what it does is promote community resiliency (for pandemics and whatever else comes), which like the CERT program used in earthquake response or other natural disasters in which non-professionals become first responders, is a great way to handle disaster - make it part of the community fabric, and just like Medicare and Social Security, socialize it!
The alternative, the corporatization and outsourcing of emergency response, is simply unacceptable.
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